Page 352 of Scarlet Wars
And with that, she left.
The door clicked shut behind her.
I leaned back, exhaling slow as my eyes scanned the files hovering over my hand. Two real, undeniable pieces of the puzzle we’d been chasing for far too long.
For Emma.
Because buried in these pages was the thing no one had ever given her: a start to finding out what really happened.
And if I couldn’t take away the damage that had already been done, then I’d give her this.
Answers.
The truth she deserved. The truth they all tried to bury.
Wrapped in ink and evidence and proof she could hold in her hands.
I smiled to myself.
It wasn’t flowers or jewelry.
But it was one hell of a welcome home present.
SEVENTY-FIVE
EMMA
Packing with translation went a hell of a lot faster than doing it by hand.
Obviously.
But something in me needed to do it manually. Like folding up my clothes and boxing all my crap was the only way to properly say goodbye to my life at Cyclos. Every drawer I emptied, every old item I touched, made it feel more real.
Not like Sean and Jackson, who’d jumped to Crown together two hours ago, still basking in their nauseating relationship-bliss.
Then again—attached to Caden’s hip as I was—who was I to judge?
I was halfway through clearing out all my bathroom junk when I heard footsteps, heavy, and confident. The door opened, and Caden walked into the room like he owned it.
Which, by now, he kind of did.
“Be right there,” I called over my shoulder, then tossed the last few things into the bag and rushed out to meet him.
My man.
Mine.
I practically skipped across the room to kiss him.
But the second I saw him, my heart twisted.
Something was off.
He looked…distant. Cold. More like the closed-off bastard I’d first met at Coastal, not the person I’d gotten to know over this past year and a half.
I faltered mid-step, my smile dimming with the shift in his expression.
He didn’t come to me. Didn’t move at all. Just stood there like a statue, arms at his sides, eyes shadowed and unreadable.
